Ubiquity Project 2013
Voodoo vaudeville from a high-kicking duo shapes a twilight delight. 
When Nigel Firth began to teach the 11-year-old Hatty Taylor the art of guitar, nothing came out of it and, in a couple of years the two drifted apart. When they met again in 2009, the youngster still was no shredder but evolved into a mesmerizing singer whose voice her former tutor envisaged wrapped in wobbly electronica with a bluesy vibe. Since then, going from strength to strength, the pair graced a “BBC Introducing” stage at Glastonbury and now deliver a three-track EP that makes one long for a full album: it’s about time now.
The title cut of this hat-trick sees Taylor in predatory, purring mode which oozes pure sex until the six-string strum gives the cabaret room to a synthetic throb, and latent rockabilly jive breaks into a dramatic step. The tension rises in the ’40s-styled romance of “By Way Of Apology” where Firth’s acoustic wave and cosmic keyboards backdrop carry his pupil’s smoky lines directly into their listener’s psyche. Closer, “Stop,” combines restrained lyricism with a muscular twang, so arresting one actually doesn’t want it to halt. It’s that good.
****1/3
